UN Security Council unanimously adopts Syria resolution

The United Nations Security Council votes to approve a resolution that will require Syria to give up its chemical weapons during a meeting September 27, 2013 at UN headquarters in New York on the sidelines of the 68th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.(AFP Photo / Stan Honda)

The UN Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution outlining the details of taking under international control and ultimately destroying Syria’s chemical arsenal.

"Today's historic resolution is the first hopeful news on
Syria in a long time," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told
the council immediately after the vote.

The Syrian sides must engage constructively in the upcoming
Geneva 2 conference, which would be a significant step towards
the “creation of a democratic state that guarantees the human
rights of all in Syria,” Moon said in his address to the
Council.

“The regional actors have a responsibility to challenge those
who will actively undermine the process and those who do not
fully respect Syria’s sovereignty, unity and territorial
integrity,” he added.

The target date for a new peace conference in Geneva was set for
mid-November. However, the Syrian opposition should be
represented at the Geneva peace talks in a single delegation, the
Secretary-General said.

The adopted resolution calls for consequences if inspectors
decide that Syria has failed to fulfill its obligations. The
nature of the reaction, however, will depend on another
resolution which would have to be passed in the event of
non-compliance.

‘The resolution does not fall under Chapter 7 of the UN
Charter and does not allow any automatic enforcement of coercive
measures,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said
after the Security Council vote.

The UN Security Council resolution on chemical weapons in Syria
will have to be observed not only by the Syrian authorities, but
also by the opposition, Lavrov stressed.

"The responsibility for the implementation of this resolution
does not only lie on the government of Syria," he said.

The chemical weapons resolution on Syria establishes a framework
for overcoming the ongoing political crisis. According to
Lavrov, the Syrian opposition is also obliged to work with
international experts as required by the Security Council
resolution.

"We hope that more and more scattered groups of the
Syrian opposition will finally be able – as the Syrian
government has already done for a long time – to declare its
readiness to participate in an international conference without
preconditions,” Lavrov said.

The US Secretary of State, John Kerry, however, stated in his
speech that only the “Assad regime carries
the burden of meeting the terms of this agreement," telling
the international community that inspections will begin by
November.

“Syria cannot select or reject the inspectors. Syria must give
those inspectors unfettered access to any and all sites and any
and all people," he said, adding that the weapons should be
destroyed by mid-2014.

He also warned that "should the regime fail to act, there will
be consequences.”

”This resolution makes clear that those responsible for this
heinous act must be held accountable,” said Kerry.

French Minister for Foreign Affairs, Laurent Fabius, has also put
all the blame and responsibility on the Syrian government,
saying it is “clear all the evidence
points to the regime and no one of good faith can deny
this.”

“France as others especially the United States of America took
its responsibilities, and we consider that standing firm has paid
off,” he said, suggesting that only the threat of imminent
military action forced President Assad to give up his chemical
weapons stockpiles.

The groundbreaking UNSC
resolution not only recognizes that any use of chemical weapons
is a threat to international peace and security, but also
“upholds the principle of accountability for this proven use
of chemical weapons” by the Syrian regime, said William
Hague, UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth
Affairs.

“[The resolution] imposes legally binding and enforceable
obligations on the Syrian regime to comply with the OPCW
decision,” Hague said. “This establishes an important
international norm, which is essential in the wake of the Syrian
regime appalling actions on the 21 August.”

Australian UN ambassador and the current president of the
Security council Gary Quinlan noted that importantly, the
resolution “reaffirms that those who perpetrated this mass
atrocity crime against their own citizens must be held
accountable for their actions.”

"Australia’s assessment is that the evidence available shows
that it was the Syrian authority who were responsible for this
crime and this incident has confirmed what Australia had said for
a long time, that the Council should refer the situation in Syria
to the International Criminal Court,”Quinlan said.

Syrian UN Ambassador Bashar Jaafari said the resolution holds all
parties in Syria equally responsible for the elimination of
chemical weapons, including rebel forces. However some member of
the Security Council are trying to sabotage the effort, Jaafari
stated after the adoption of the historical document.

“It is regrettable that some delegations have begun adopting a
negative interpretation of the resolution in order to derail it
from its lofty purposes,” Jaafari said.

He also pointed out that the United States, France,Turkey, Saudi
Arabia and Qatar must commit to the document and be held
accountable if they continue to arm the rebels.

"You can't bring terrorists from all over the world and send
them into Syria in the name of jihad and then pretend that you
are working for peace," Jaafari said.

He reiterated that Damascus is "fully committed" to
attending November’s Geneva 2 conference.

The Council’s vote came shortly after a consensus had been reached earlier on Friday
by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
(OPCW) in regards to the proposal.

The five veto-wielding members had agreed upon the text on
Thursday before presenting the draft to the full 15-member body
during overnight discussions. The draft resolution is fully
in line with the Geneva framework on the destruction of chemical
weapons in Syria, Sergey Lavrov told the press earlier on the
sidelines of the UN General Assembly's 68th session.